Belle retired in 1982 but
missed being active in education
My husband and I retired in June of 1982 and relocated
in August to our condo in Florida. When Labor Day came around,
there was this sudden void---I should be doing bulletin boards
and getting books and supplies ready for my incoming class.
I felt disconnected. No class. No contract discussion. No shop
talk. There must be others like me, but who were they? Where
were they?
It wasn't until 1983, when a letter arrived from
Tema Bellinson, NYSUT Retiree coordinator, inviting Florida
retirees to a meeting at the UFT office that a slim thread was
re-established. From a statewide mailing, 22 retirees showed
up for that meeting. We arranged for a 2nd meeting, also at
the UFT headquarters. It was then we made two decisions.
- We would not meet there again. (We moved the next meeting
to a Community Room at a local bank).
- We would call ourselves Teacher Retirees in Florida (TRIF).
We started with nothing! There were no guidelines
for retiree chapters.
Constitution developed
A Constitution was developed from scratch--which,
with minor changes is still being used. We needed to start a
checking account for the anticipated dues we would receive.
We received a mailing list from NYSUT for those in the local
area and sent out notices for our next meeting. ( I laid out
about $200, personally, which NYSUT eventually reimbursed).
We were off and running.
Our first TRIF Chapter (now called Unit) took
in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. The single page meeting
notice soon had tidbits filling in the backside. It evolved
into a folded newsletter of four full pages.
Al Shanker spoke at 1985 meeting
In March 1985, we celebrated our first birthday
with a luncheon featuring the late, great Al Shanker as our
guest of honor. It was a coup for us and really put TRIF on
the map.
Clearwater Chapter started 1985
In October 1985, the Clearwater Chapter was started.
We now had a TRIF Chapter on each coast. In December, we launched
the Sarasota and Fort Myers/Cape Coral (now known as Gulf Coast
South) Chapters. We were growing by leaps and bounds as more
and more retirees relocated. Treasure Coast came aboard in '87,
Space Coast in '88.
In 1986, TRIF's Odds 'n' Ends won its first award
for General Excellence in NYSUT'S Journalism contest. Other
awards followed every year.
In 1989, Gold Coast became too large and was too
distant for Palm Beach retirees to attend meetings, so we spun
off the Sun Coast Chapter which serviced that area. In '90 came
Daytona Beach, then Aventura founded to serve Dade retirees
followed by Citrus in '92.
Editor's note: Belle Sheiner
"retired" from both her leadership of Council 43 and
as editor of Odds 'n' Ends in 1994 after insuring replacement
in both roles.
Continuing Belle's recollections
Backtracking a bit, NYSUT started trying to organize
retirees in 1983. In '86 a Task Force made recommendations for
retirees to attend conventions, without a vote, and to formalize
retiree organizations. They left out Florida which was an oversight
and later remedied.
Eventually, NYSUT formed Councils and TRIF became
Council 43 with rights to Delegate Representation. Once NYSUT
formed the Councils, we received an official charter from the
AFT.
Being far removed from the scene, we contacted
friends and relatives in NY to ask their support for NYSUT goals.
We even reached across the country to California to offer support
in their fight against school vouchers. We did what we could.
Editor's Note: In 1995 Bill
Cea, now serving as NYSUT consultant for Florida retirees, replaced
Belle Sheiner until 2001. Christina Sharp continues to serve
since that time. |
